Carton sealer



De@ 9, 1969 c. A. `Mcaoma 3,482,371

CARTON SEALER Filed May 19, 1967 A 2 sheets-sheet 1 Dec. 9, 19693,482,371

c. A. MORE CARTON SEALER Filed May 19, 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet r64-qLg--T-{AcoN-mol. RELMOLENOEF- 65 )'63 (63 @N1-Rol. RELAY l--l TIMERELAY jl" 69 yg 72 Arme/vers;

United States Patent 3,482,371 CARTON SEALER Clark A. Moore,Stockbridge, Mass., assignor to The Clark-Aiken Company, Lee, Mass., acorporation of Massachusetts Filed May 19, 1967, Ser. No. 639,763 Int.Cl. 1365i) 51/12, 51/14 US. Cl. 53-3 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSUREAn object of the present invention is to provide an efficient machineand process for tightly sealing a carton filled with paper sheets.Another object is to apply even pressure to stacks of paper sheets in acarton so that excess air and moisture are removed from the cartonduring sealing. Still another object of the present invention is toprovide a mechanism that will automatically accomplish the sealing ofcartons with a minimum of attendance and supervision.

These and other objects are accomplished in accordance with thefollowing description and drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevation of the machine partly broken away toillustrate one arrangement of parts which canbe used in the presentinvention;

FIGURE 2 is a side elevation of the machine of FIG- URE l with thediaphragm in exhaust position;

FIGURE 3 is a side elevation of the machine of FIG- URE 1 with thediaphragm in pressure position; and

FIGURE 4 is a diagram showing one circuit arrangement which can be usedto practice the invention described herein.

The carton sealer machine 1 is a hollow cabinet with a chamber 3 whichis divided by a flexible diaphragm 6 into a lower portion 4 and an upperportion 5. The diaphragm is secured to the inside of the chamber at toform an airtight seal. Within the lower portion a platen 8, mounted on ahydraulic cylinder 9, is moved vertically responsive to pressure withinthe cylinder. The hydraulic circuit includes pressure switch 58 locatedat the bottom of the cabinet.

A blower 12 and valve 14 are connected to air manifold 16 to force airunder pressure to upper portion 5 and to exhaust air from portion 5. InFIGURE 2 the platen 8 with carton 25 is shown raised and the diaphragm 6is in exhaust position. In FIGURE 3 the diaphragm 6 is shown in pressureposition tightly enveloping carton 2S.

Referring to FIGURE 4, current is circuited through 46 when push buttonswitch 52 is actuated to pass through pressure switch 58 and starter 60to run pump motor S6 through the starter so that hydraulic fluid is fedin the hydraulic system and under hydraulic pressure platen 8 is raisedin the chamber.

Once carton 25 reaches the upper limit within the chamber, pressureswitch 58 is tripped to inactivate the hydraulic motor and no increasein hydraulic pressure takes place. At the same time, current is routedthrough relay 62 to activate the blower solenoid 64 in the blower unit.Solenoid 64 is connected to valve 14. It will be P 1 ICC chamber,drawing the diaphragm to the top of the chamber as seen in FIGURE 2.Upon activation of solenoid 64, the flow of air is reversed andpressurized air is forced into the upper portion 5 to urge the diaphragmin contact with the carton being sealed.

Time relay 68 is started simultaneously with the activation of relay 62and after about 15-25 seconds, relay 68 interrupts the current. Fuse 65is provided to cut the circuit through contact relay 63 when overloadoccurs. Simultaneously, current flows to down solenoid 72 through limitswitch 69 and moves this solenoid to lower platen 8. Fuses 77 and 79 areincluded as a safety measure. Down solenoid 72 is connected to a valvein the hydraulic system. Upon activation, solenoid 72 opens thehydraulic valve and the platen is lowered while at the same time theblower air ow is reversed to again apply vacuum to the upper portion 5of the chamber, completing one cycle of operation.

It will be noted that push button switch 76 is normally open and thatthe blower circuit normally is closed. At start up of the carton sealingmachine, current passes through closed switch 80 to blower starter 84 torun blower motor 12. Thus the blower motor 86 is normally running toraise the diaphragm to vacuum position. Starting the pump begins acomplete cycle which automatically raises the platen until the motion iscut off, at which time the blower air ow is reversed and time relay 68is set. After a predetermined length of time, the platen is lowered bygravity when a valve is opened in the hydraulic system whereupon theblower returns to normal operation.

A pair of overloads 57 and 87 are provided in both the pump circuit andthe blower circuit, respectively, for safety purposes. Fuses 50 and 51are also included in the circuit. Control panel 20 houses push buttonswitches 52, 54, 76, 80 and 82 but it will be understood that once themachine is connected to a source of electric power, only switch 54 needbe actuated. Switches 52, 76, 80 and 82 are provided to start or stoppump motor 56, solenoid 72 and blower motor 86 independently of theautomatic operation of the carton sealing machine.

While I have described the preferred embodiment of my invention, it isto be understood that it is capable of other adaptations andmodifications within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described `my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A carton sealing -machine comprising an enclosed chamber and aflexible diaphragm substantially horizontally disposed within saidchamber, said diaphragm dividing said chamber into a lower portion andan airtight upper portion, said lower portion having an ambientatmospheric environment, a platen mounted on a hydraulic cylinder insaid lower portion, said platen being vertically mova'ble within thelower portion of said chamber for moving a carton towards and away fromsaid diaphragm, air passage means leading into said upper portion abovesaid diaphragm and blower means connected to said passage means forcompressing and exhausting air Within said upper portion whereby saiddiaphragm can be urged by air pressure to envelop a carton on saidplaten and thereafter withdrawn from said platen as the air is exhaustedfrom said upper portion.

2. The machine of claim 1 wherein said platen is hydraulically raised bya pump within a hydraulic system and a pressure switch is associatedwith said pump to disconnect same when said platen reaches raisedposition.

3. The machine of claim 2 wherein said pressure switch is connected to atime relay and said time relay is associ- J ated with a valve insaidhydraulic circuit whereby upon actuation of said pressure switchsaid time relay is activated to open said valve after a predeterminedtime permitting said platen to move downwardly.`

4. The machine of claim lvwherein a control switch is operativelyassociated with said blower means and the flow of air within said airpassage means is reversed upon the actuation of said yswitch to move thediaphragm to pressure position.

5. The machine of claim 3 wherein a control switch is operativelyassociated with said blower means and said switch is connected to saidtime relay whereby after the predetermined time said switch isactivated, and the direction of air within said passage means isreversed to move the diaphragm to vacuum position.

6.` A process for sealing a` carton comprising exhausting air from asealed chamber to ex a diaphragm upwardly and positioning an assembledand glued carton on a vertically movable supporting surface, raisingsaid surface and carton to a predetermined position below the diaphragm,forcing air into said ysealed chamber to establish pressure above saiddiaphragm and enveloping at least part of said carton with saiddiaphragm in pressure position for a predetermined time to seal same,exhausting air from said chamber to withdraw the diaphragm from thesealed carton and lowering said surface and carton to the originalstarting position,

TRAVIS S. MCGEHEE, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 53-105, 387

